I think today will go down as one of the weirdest and funniest days of my life. For a minute or two it was the scariest, but I'm getting ahead of myself. You might not believe this story, but trust me I have a witness and I'm glad I do. I wouldn't have believed it if someone told it to me. Or I'd believe the Wild Turkey in the bottle version, for sure.
This morning my Grandson Tristan and I went to the park across the street. He loves the slide and swings. We were laughing and jabbering along the park trail toward the playground when I noticed a large bird walking down the road. I had my brand new contacts in so I couldn't clearly make out what kind of bird it was. I figured it was either a goose or a crane, both of which I've seen around our neighborhood plenty of times.
As we got closer to the playground, the bird was also closer and I thought, man that looks like a wild turkey! We DON"T see many of those in our neighborhood and after all, it was walking down the middle of the road. I laughed at myself, blamed the contacts and kept going. Tristan was sliding and climbing, sliding and climbing and I was focused on him.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw THAT BIRD walking toward the playground. It wasn't a goose or a crane. I was pretty sure it was a turkey. I'd seen wild turkeys before at a distance, but never up close. So as the bird walked into the playground area I decided it was definitely a wild turkey - and it was heading straight for us! Are they aggressive? Mean? I really didn't want to find out.
I grabbed my IPhone and started filming the bird to show it to my family later. Then it got close - really close. I grabbed Tristan, shut off the camera and walked to the other end of the playground. It followed us! It was no more than inches away from us and everywhere I walked, it followed. So I was getting nervous. Tristan is 18 months old and not much bigger than that d***ed bird. I was holding on as tight as I could and walking as fast as I could. Then I had an idea.
We climbed to the top of the slide. Surely it would get bored and walk off somewhere. I wasn't sure how high turkeys could fly but I figured we were safer up there. I snapped some pictures from above, still kind of amused but also kind of freaked out. What did it want? Why wouldn't it go away when I yelled at it? Even Tristan was yelling at it! "Get, turkey, no no!"
I called my husband to 1) have a witness to this nuttiness; and 2) to find out if they were aggressive and mean. He assured me they weren't aggressive and that they were actually kind of shy. Just as my husband was saying the word "shy", the turkey flew up to the top of the slide where we were standing!
I screamed and grabbed Tristan and ran down the steps. The turkey looked at me like, Hey! Where are you going? My husband was screaming at me, asking me what happened. This was getting stranger and stranger. I decided to call the police, since I didn't have the Animal Control number handy. Thankfully, the dispatcher who answered was calm and didn't laugh when I said "Oh my God, my Grandson and I are being chased by a wild turkey!" She did say, "Well, I thought I'd heard everything, now I guess I have." I wasn't amused.
I asked her to give me Animal Control's number, which she did. Now the turkey is sitting on top of the playground equipment, at its highest point. Stay there, stupid turkey, I thought. I called Animal Control. When I explained my situation, the person who answered said, "Well, that's a new one. I don't think we can catch that thing." I have a feeling she didn't believe me. "WHAT?" was my response. "Will you at least send someone out here and try?" Calmly and rather apathetically she said, "Sure."
We were standing at what I thought was a safe distance from the playground equipment when all of a sudden the turkey swooped down to the ground and started chasing us again. I ran up the stairs again and this time, it stayed on the ground. I snapped some more pictures, thinking that maybe I was dreaming all of this nonsense.
I called my husband back and we talked while waiting for my rescuer. A white public utility truck pulled into the parking lot, and I said to myself "Thank God, this will be over soon!" The man got out of his truck, grabbed a pole and a bag, put on some gloves and started walking towards us. He got about six feet from his truck and started picking up trash! This wasn't the Animal Control guy - it was the trash guy! He began walking away from us, steadily picking up cups, bottles and other trash. The nuttiness continues..........
A few minutes later I saw the Animal Control truck approaching the park. Then I realized that he was driving PAST the park - he didn't slow down to turn into the parking lot! He drove around the block and as he approached from the other direction, I waved my arms like someone stranded on a deserted island waving at a passing plane. Help me! Help me! This turkey wants to eat my Grandson!
Now this was the weirdest part. Up walks a young man, like he's going for a casual stroll, slight in build, young, smiling. I started ranting like a lunatic showing him how the wild turkey was stalking my every move. It's a good thing he actually WAS from Animal Control and not somebody out for a morning walk! The young man calmly stood still and watched me do my wild turkey dance.
Then he dropped something that looked like seeds from inside his mouth onto the ground. The turkey sashayed over to the seeds and began eating them. He dropped a few more (they were sunflower seeds)and the turkey ate those too. I'm standing there, holding Tristan, jaw dropped. I had to get this on film, right?
I walked around them, giving them plenty of room and thought I was filming them. As I looked down to check that I pushed the right button (give me a break, I was kind of in shock), the young man snatched that bird by the neck and started wrestling him to the ground! The bird put up a heck of a fight for a few minutes. I wasn't sure who was going to win. Feathers and bark mulch were flying everywhere. Tristan and I stood there, not believing what we were seeing.
Then the young man deftly flipped the bird over and as he hung upside down, the bird became motionless. The man said "This puts them in kind of a trance." And then he smiled a knowing, confident smile. Not evil, just as though he was sure he had conquered the beast. He turned around and started walking toward his truck without saying a word.
I got the IPhone to start filming just as he was walking away. "Goodbye!" was all I could get out of my mouth. And then, "Thank you!" I called as he got further away. He turned and gave a friendly wave and continued on his way. I sat down and thought to myself, Did that REALLY just happen? But I have pictures and video to prove it!
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